One year ago today: April 14, 2017, prohibition, taxes, and war.
Five years ago today: April 14, 2013, oh boy, a railroad museum!
Nine years ago today: April 14, 2009, college costs - before the media spoke up.
Random years ago today: April 14, 2010, my first Arduino code.
Freddy Fender doesn’t play bass. I know because this morning had me struggling with “Wasted Days”. I can play it or sing it, but not at the same time. When they bass players can’t sing, this is the situation they are talking about. Of course, some bassists can sing. But they cannot necessarily play authentic bass lines at the same time. I’ll get it because I got “Spiders & Snakes”, forgetting that took me days, not hours, to master. This time, it is some element I have to unlearn, [which is] often significantly more difficult. I’ve been at it an hour and it is maddening. Later, I was at it nearly four hours and the second line of each verse still gives me trouble. But, this is a tip jar song and it was my idea, though I thought I would not be the vocalist.
Which in turn means I didn’t get started until noon today, including hauling drywall and plumbing supplies. Much discussion returned to the hot dog cart, which is by no means a dead issue. But the motives and circumstances have changed (see addendum). I stand by my original objections that the unit is too labor-intensive and requires semi-trained staff. I’m not buying the argument of unskilled staff because I would need to devote a company officer to oversee the operation, or at least be ready to jump if anything goes wrong. However, it appears that the cart is affordable without going through channels.
Plus, Agt. R has come up with seven confirmed one-day events per month where we are invited to set up the cart. If he can make it ten, I’ll take a look into it myself—on the condition he does not buy a new truck at all, but especially until after the cart is in operation. I cannot send a station wagon to be hauling concession wagons around the territory, though I’m certain that is going to happen. Agt. R has zero experience with logistics. We need two vehicles with tow bars, protected off-street parking, food storage facilities, insurances, and proper accounts. I understand completely how to run this type of operation without the above and that explains why I have no intention of doing so.
Yes, we could just charge right in and fly it seat-of-the-pants. But I question why there are no published accounts of vendors that failed. We do not even know what percentage fold at the last minute, or after the first event, or the first month. The absence of statistics does not, to me, imply there are no failures. I know to do it right (worst case scenario) we will need $4,030 to move that first hot dog. Chances are half that amount will be enough, but if you had the money to do it right, would you risk that first half? Not me. I can think of plenty to do with two grand than to take chances.
Due to a miscommunication, we wound up on opposite sides of town looking for each other. I forgot he forgot I have the scooter back so it cost me nothing to zip around. While I was out there, I bought a new battery for the Taurus, a regulation model at $108.50. I usually do this with a smile because I was raised around people always trying to get the cheapest price even if the purchase was crappy. I believe I told you how [growing up] our house was full of machines with the critical working part broken. Nobody would spring for the replacement no matter how desperately they needed the machine. Greed prevented it. Even the thought that somebody else might benefit from the repair was enough to stop them.
And I don’t need tell you that somebody else was usually me. But let’s not jump to conclusions. The scenario was that if a machine was functional, I would learn how to work with it, and figure out how to make a profit. It was that profit that really attracted their unwanted attention. It goes like this: They would demand a share, I would say yes if you run the machine, they would refuse, go running to mother, who would make things “equal” by dividing my profit between all six siblings.
I would promptly stop using the machine. To hell with me doing all the work and giving them free money. Next, they would go nuts trying to copy what I had been doing. However, since they skipped the “learn how to work with it” part, it was not long before the critical part of the machine was broken once more. And things returned to that endless, maddening, sit-and-do-nothing mode. Year after year.
There will always be the element that says in the end, they had it far worse than I did. True, I’ve met such families. But I’ve never met another where the hardships were self-imposed.
Three Gorges dam.
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The car is running again, the total cost was over $150. It’s a good thing most Americans have no clue as to how much a vehicle really costs to keep on the road. Neither would I if I used credit to pay for it. The cause of the dead battery was, I suspect, forgetting to unplug the phone charger. When plugged in, these gadgets drain power even when the system is off. Over time, it weakens the battery. When I took it in for the core exchange, the lady walked away as I was putting the new battery in my cart. I waited and waited but she never came back. So I put the battery in my back yard to see if it responds to the baking soda treatment.
Next, Agt. R and I hauled some drywall and plumbing pieces over to the cabin. As great as I feel, anybody over 50 can tell you the physical constraints gain on you. From the activity of the last few days, which had more than the usual quota of lifting and shoving, my muscles were aching by this morning. I’m a white guy, the aging process is not gradual. Instead, one morning you wake up and there it is. The day before I “got old” I was easily putting in ten hour days. How do you think I feel, getting stiff muscles from maybe a total half day’s labor.
Only one thing to do. Grab the bass and figure out some lead patterns to “Move It On Over”. It’s tricky on bass due to the design of the guitar. Bass does not have that half-tone shorter interval between the 4th and 5th strings upon which so much lead work is patterned. It allows for a tighter finger-grouping that even non-guitarists often notice when a lead break is occurring. If not for that offset, the guitarist would have to move a lot faster. Then, for me to do it on bass, where the frets are already further apart, you get the idea. Despite what Pat-B rightly predicted, I don’t so much play lead breaks as I emulate the overall sound, that is, I suggest the lead break to the listener. Works like a hot damn.
Add that tune to the set list for tomorrow. I also found I could do the vocals better in A, but I’ll struggle through G for now as my guitar player evidently has something against learning the circle of fifths. I could care less how the majority of guitar players have this mental block, but it’s when they do it on your time. You switch keys and they need to be told what the new chords are. Every time. Be sure to return after the weekend for the lowdown on gig number three. I aim for gig exposure to oblige guitarists to improve, but I’ve had it backfire as well. They don’t realize they are dragging the band down and stay bad, thinking that is their “sound”.
What really tops my peeve list is the guitarists who draw blanks on stage, but afterward have no recollection how badly they screwed up. It’s a little different from the stage fright I wrote about just last day, because in that instance, they know it was their fault. I mean the situation where they have no clue, and showing them a video doesn’t help. That’s another guitar head problem I’ve seen probably 35 time in my life. Yeah, about that.
ADDENDUM
Here it is, buried at the bottom of today’s chart. Y’day was lucky Friday the 13th for my buddy. He was approved for the homeowner hardship assistance to the tune of them paying off his late fees and reinstating the mortgage. Talk about coming back from the brink. When I filed that Motion to Dismiss early last November, it was essentially a desperate 11th hour cry for help. Now, within the next four weeks he goes from the near dumps to a three bedroom with the resources to pay it off in a few years by merely following the plan I spreadsheeted for him.
Remember, I also put him on that savings plan last August as, so his reserves are built up and professionally managed. He can hardly fail now. People change when they have accomplishments to safeguard. This is now protected information, but I’ll mention the major events as they occur. For those who’ve been following, this is that piece of mail I pulled back out of the trash. As soon as the foreclosure outfit filed a lis pendens (intention to sue) he was bombarded by fishy offers. I regularly threw them away, but thought one of them said “funds available”. I fished it back from the pail, and that is the one, just a few months later, that came to the rescue. (Actually, I even got that wrong. What it said was, “We have government assistance.” What’s surrealistic is actually happened even though it sounds too good to be true.
Myself, I can only wonder why things went so smoothly. I’ve speculated the usual reasons, but I never expected them to actually fork over money. I don’t know if there are strings attached, but they have always been up front about everything. Maybe I just can’t believe everything happened so fast in a bureaucracy, which smacks of ulterior motives. Yet if, in thirty days, they seal the deal, then sometimes things do go right. For others, I mean, not me.
This, of course, brings the hot dog cart right back into the picture. I’m more amenable to releasing funds from his account now, as long as the mortgage parameters are solidly met. As in a year of payments deposited in advance. And they are since I know his books are airtight. That three month emergency reserve advice is outdated. That originated before the deep rot of welfare set into the American infrastructure. I’ve advised him to sign nothing until we go over it and not to mention the situation to anybody in the foreseeable future. I was not too happy about his ex filing that document (for instance) stating she was in no way responsible for the financing, but if there was any settlement involving cash, she wanted a cut. This folks, is why I avoid dating poor women.
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